Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Extract from The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography. My First Life (1906-1926)

Centralia, 1919

After the war ended, lawless force and violence came back,
now led by ex-soldiers, fomented by stay-at-home patriots, employers
and their hirelings. Many violent scenes had occurred in 1918 and 1919.
The Rand School in New York City was attacked by a mob of soldiers and
sailors who tore down the American flag flying from the building.
The Socialist daily paper, the New York _Call_ was raided and
wrecked. Employees were driven out abd beaten as they were forced
to run the gauntlet of armed men.

On Memorial Day, in 1918, the IWW hall was raided by paraders
in Centralia, Washington, its records and literature burned in the
street, its furniture wrecked or stolen. All who were found in the
hall were beaten, arrested and driven out of town. The governor,
the mayor, the chief of police and a company of National Guard were
in the parade. The mob action was led by the president of the
Employers Association. The hall looked like a war ruin. But the
undaunted IWW opened another hall. They determined to defend
themselves and their headquarters from further lawless attacks.

Many attempts had been made to smash the Lumber Workers
Industrial Union of the IWW, especially during and after the great
strike of 1917 for the eight-hour day. Men had been beaten abd
jailed in Yakima, Ellensburg and other lumber towns. Rope, tar and
feathers, and clubs were used time and time again. The Eastern
Railway and Lumber Company controlled much of the lumber land,
sawmills, railways and banks around Centralia. The head of this
outfit, F. B. Hubbard, was also president of the Employer's
Association. The American Legion had been organized in Centralia
after the war and was in the forefront of the canpaign to smash the
IWW and imprison its members.

A blind man, Tom Lassiter, made his living at a newsstand in
Centralia. Among the papers he sold were the Seattle _Union Record_
and the IWW paper, _The Industrial Worker_. In June 1919 the
newsstand was broken into and everything there taken out and burned.
He was warned to leave town in a note signed "U.S. Soldiers, Sailors
and Marines." Later, when he refused to leave town, he was seized,
beaten and dropped in a ditch across the county line. When he
returned to Centralia, he was arrested under the criminal
syndicalist law. All attempts of his lawyer, Elmer Smith, failed to
bring the perpetrators of these outrages to justice, which
emboldened the lawless elements in Centralia.

The Employers Association continually incited its members to
action by regular bulletins, proclaiming such slogans as "active
prosecution of the IWW; hang the Bolsheviks; deport Russians from
this community; deport the radicals or use the rope in Centralia,"
and similar sentiments. A Citizen's Protective League was organized
which called meetings to discuss how to handle "the IWW problem."
The police, the Elks and the Legion participated in these discussions.
A secret committee, similar to the vigilante committees of the old West,
was set up. The news leaked out that a raid was being planned on the
IWW hall, and was discussed by Lewis County Trades Council. Some
members from there warned the IWW of the threats. The IWW issued a
leaflet, "To the Citizens of Centralia We Must Appeal," in which
they recited the threats and accusations against them. It concluded
by saying: "Our only crime is solidarity, loyalty to the working
class, and justice for the oppressed."